Description: One of those movies that helped usher out the
era of action films that had plots that made any sense (and
also helped reverse the direction of Patrick Swayze's career
arc), Road House concerns a handsome, existential bouncer in
a rinky-dink honky-tonk who owns both a degree in philosophy
and a Mercedes. And that's perhaps the most believable
aspect of the whole movie. Swayze stars as Dalton, "the best
bouncer in the business," who runs afoul of Wesley (Ben
Gazzara), the meanest SOB round these parts, by taking up
with his former girlfriend, Doc (Kelly Lynch)--the only
woman in town with an IQ approaching double digits, even if
she had unfathomably hooked up with such a lowlife. Swayze
had complained about being typecast as beefcake when this
was made, but that didn't stop him from revealing as much
skin as possible--even guys like him, as revealed in a
luridly seedy scene in which one of Wesley's goons tells
Dalton that he reminds him of the kind of boyfriend he had
in prison (albeit in much saltier terms). It's so insulting
to its audience that it's nice to be able to turn the tables
and laugh at the filmmakers. --David Kronke

The Film:

Swayze gives up 'Dirty Dancing' for dirty fighting in this
violent, spectacular and immensely enjoyable study of Zen
and the art of Barroom Bouncing. A former philosophy student
now majoring in martial arts, he is hired to clean up the
Double Deuce, a beleaguered Missouri nightclub where the
band plays behind wire and the staff 'sweep up the eyeballs
after closing'. Like a modern Western hero, Swayze cleans
out the sadists, till-skimmers, drug dealers and loafers,
but he's also up against a ruthless businessman (Gazzara)
whose heavies extort money for a 'town improvement' scheme.
When Swayze's employer refuses to cross Gazzara's palm with
silver, heads roll, bones crack, blood flows, buildings
explode, and plausibility flies right out the window along
with the bodies. Swayze's drippy romance with the local Doc,
a leggy blonde (Lynch) who tends his wounds and more
besides, slows things down; but when his ageing mentor
(Elliott) comes to town, they kick serious ass, while
director Herrington and stuntman Charlie Picerni pile on the
senseless mayhem as the two factions perform their Dance of
Death. Mindless entertainment of the highest order.

Unfortunately, MGM really skimped on this release, and
nowhere is that more evident than in the film's image. Right
off the bat, the disc's producers decided that this cult
classic didn't deserve more than a MPEG-2 encoding. As a
result, the disc fails to make use of the best that blu-ray
has to offer and has an average video bitrate of just 18.05
(very low for this format). Sharpness varies from scene to
scene, with some scenes coming off rather dull and others
looking as clear as can be. With the exception of the bar's
neon signs and a few of 80s pastel fashions, the colors are
rather muted and never achieve the vibrancy that they likely
had in the theater. Grain structure is similarly
inconsistent, with some telltale signs of DNR use
throughout. Overall this is not the transfer that this film
deserves!

Audio & Music:

The news is better on the audio front. The DTS-HD MA 5.1
track is very strong and does a great job of bringing to
life the film's action sequences. Jeff Healey's bar room
blues music sounds very vivid as well, with the songs really
coming to life. The balance is good and there's no unwanted
background noises (hisses, pops, etc.). The film also comes
with optional English, Chinese, French, Korean, Spanish
subtitles.

Extras:

Before diving into the individual extras, it's worth noting
that none of them are in HD. In fact, MGM has included a
standard edition DVD of the film in the set that has the
entirety of the film's special features. Why did MGM do
this? I can't say. It may have been a cost cutting measure
since it doesn't require the conversion of the featurettes
into HD, but this is pure speculation. Now, let's talk about
those individual extras. First, there are a pair of audio
commentaries. In the first we get director Rowdy Herrington
discussing and defending the film. Here he reveals that it
was never meant to be a straight and serious film, but
rather was an over the top take down of 80s action
pretensions. The second audio commentary featuring filmmaker
Kevin Smith, and his View Askew producer, Scott Moser. As
fans of the film, the two discuss the filmographies of the
participants and the often interject Dalton facts, a riff on
the Chuck Norris facts phenomenon from a few years back. As
anyone knows who has heard a Kevin Smith commentary in the
past, they can be quite hilarious and this one is no
exception. We also get a standard retrospective documentary
called "On the Road House" which features the film's
participants reflecting on the movie nearly twenty years
after making it. Additionally there's a featurette called
"What Would Dalton Do?" that looks into the lives of real
life bouncers complete with cringe worthy reenactments.
Finally, there's a trivia track that I haven't had times to
explore, but seems to have gotten high marks from other
reviewers. Finally, we also get a series of trailers
including one for a straight to video sequel to the film.

Bottom line:

"Road House" is the best film ever made about a philosopher
that rips out people's throats with one hand (although
Roberto Rossellini's "Blaise Pascal" comes in at a close
second). It's one of my favorite so-bad-its-good films and
one that actually deserves the cult status that its
achieved. I'm glad to have the film in HD, but MGM really
did screw this release up. Since it clocks in at about
$10.00 for most retailers and you do get some entertaining
extras, I'll give this film a mild recommendation and hope
for a better release at some point in the future.